Oh, Happy Day!

On September 18, 2018 we went to court to finalize the adoption of Alexander! For reasons I can’t even explain, I was extremely nervous to appear in court and speak to the judge. I am pretty shy by nature, but I don’t remember being so nervous when we went for Jonathan’s finalization.

But nervous or not, it was a beautiful experience and a beautiful day! We had so much support from family and friends. I am so grateful to each and every person who came with us. The judge even commented that he loved seeing so many family members present. That warmed my heart soooooo much! I think he was really glad that Alexander had found a family with so many people to love him.

I should mention that it was the same judge who was involved with the family who placed Alexander with us. They went before the judge to finalize their adoption of Alexander, but then they had to tell the judge that they were going to turn around and re-place him. We were not present for any of that, but we heard bits and pieces of what went on, and he did not have a lot of nice things to say about the situation. Read more about Alexander’s Story Here.

I think that may have been a big part of why I was nervous to go to court this time. I was scared that he would bring up the other family, or say something unpleasant about them or the situation. And I just wanted everything to be happy and joyful!

Picture by @jwolfphotography

 

Even if he had negative feelings towards the other family, I don’t. I am, and will forever be grateful to them for making the choice to place Alexander with us! It could not have been an easy decision to make, let alone go through with. I greatly admire their courage to do so.

Now, back to court and happiness! The judge was amazing and everything went so smoothly! It is a really short proceeding, and not too much actually needs to happen. There are really only three things that happen in court during a private adoption finalization.

• The adoptive parents need to sign the necessary paperwork – Decree of Adoption, Agreement for Adoption, Findings of Fact.
• The adoptive couple need to tell the judge about their relationship with the baby, if they have bonded, if they love him, and their general feelings about adopting the baby.
• The judge signs the paperwork to make everything official!

That’s it! Just like that, it’s over and official!

The day before we went to court, our attorney emailed us copies of all the forms that we would need to be familiar with the following day. There were two reasons for this: first, the judge will ask us if we have seen the documents, and second so that we can look over them to make sure all names, dates, addresses, etc. are correct before they are submitted to the court.

And let me tell you, that is a really important step! We actually had to have the documents re-done because the attorney had the wrong last name for Alexander on 3 out of 4 papers! And we really did want his last name to be changed to Larsen! LOL! So always make sure you look over the papers CAREFULLY!

 

 

After being seated in court, the attorney addressed the judge to let him know why we were in court. Then he “questioned” Jeron first. He asked if he has previously seen the documents in front of him, if they were correct, and then asked him to sign them. Once that was done, Justin- our attorney, asked Jeron to tell the court about his feelings about the baby and how he has bonded with Alexander.

You guuuyyysss! It is really so cute to hear your husband getting all mushy about how much he loves your baby and why! It seriously fills my heart with so much love and appreciation to have this guy by my side and loving me and our kids! I am one lucky girl!

Once he was done speaking, he signed the papers and it was my turn.

I just had to answer the same questions as Jeron. “Yes, I have seen these documents before, and yes they are correct.”

I am not a very eloquent person, but as I was telling the judge about Alexander, I felt the words coming straight from my heart. I totally forgot that we would have to talk about this, and so I had not prepared anything. But I remember saying how much I had grown to love this little man. I told the judge that he was such a sweet and happy baby. And that I really admired him. He has moderate hearing loss and wears two hearing aids. Through all of his appointments with the ENTs and audiologist, and through surgery to get tubes in his ears he had been such a champ!

I might have said more, but I honestly don’t remember.

After that, the judge just signed the papers and it was done! He was really great to us! He wanted to take a picture with Alexander and with all of us! He let Jonathan and Alexander sit up in his chair and take pictures. And we had a whole group picture taken with everyone who had come to court with us.

It was such an incredible experience!

We took more pictures in front of the court-house, because you really can’t have too many pictures of such an amazing day! Then the party went out to breakfast to celebrate! As we were all sitting around eating, I just kept looking around at all the people who were there to love and support my little Alexander. My heart was so warm as it filled with love for all these wonderful people in my life.

I know I’ve said it before, and I am 100% sure I will say it again, but I am so grateful for adoption. I am so grateful that it allows me and Jeron to be parents. I truly can’t imagine loving anyone more than I love my precious little boys! Every step of the adoption process reminds me how amazing they are and how blessed I am to be a part of their lives.

Thank you my lovely friends!

Picture by @jwolfphotography